Simultaneously developed by its writer/ director Simon Pummell as a film, website and a gallery installation, Bodysong sets itself the extremely ambitious task of providing an overview of the human condition. Presenting the film as a mosaic, Pummell has raided celluloid, video and TV archives to stockpile a mass of images. He's then woven them together and got Radiohead string-strummer Jonny Greenwood to score it.
There's no authorial voiceover but there are clear divisions (birth, adolescence, sex, violence, death and renewal), as Pummell highlights rituals and initiations to suggest that it's our personal experiences that affirm our common humanity.
As formats go, it's not a million miles away from Godfrey Reggio's epic Koyaanisqatsi. The imagery does occasionally become repetitive but it never fails to fascinate. There's certainly enough here to tempt viewers into logging onto www.bodysong.com, where the individual stories behind every shot are revealed.
